This Is My Way As A Ninja
by Owl.pendantry
Summary: (#01 of 50 Shinobi Themes) Sakura, Itachi and a rookie ANBU are sent out on a mission to test their new member. Unfortunately, when they are attacked and their rookie is fatally hit, Itachi orders his team to keep moving. Sakura, on the other hand, stands by her team-mate and tries to make sure all three of them make it back to Konoha safely. (M for language)


**50 SHINOBI-THEMED CHALLENGE**

 **01\. "This is my way as a ninja"**

Sakura, head medic of Konoha, Itachi Uchiha, head ANBU captain, and a nameless shinobi have been sent out on a mission where the third member of their party has been fatally wounded. Sakura is determined to complete her mission the way she was taught to finish them; with all of her team-mates intact, whereas Itachi knows the man's life is not worth saving, and is determined to get the young medic-nin to leave the dead-weight of a man behind.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi was at the head of the formation his team had made, then Konoha's supposed head medic, Haruno Sakura, though he had yet to see her skills in action and did not believe the title his fellow citizens had given her. At the rear of their pack was Konoha's latest rookie ANBU member, whose name Itachi just could not remember.

Their mission; to kill one of Irigakure's nuke nin's, who now resided in Konoha's territory and was leaking information about his homeland to other nations. This man needed to be put to an end. Itachi needed his country, his village, his home to be safe.

Their mission had been a success… barely.

The rookie had almost completely fucked everything up more than once. Whether it was missing their target by more than he thought was possible for an ANBU member, even a rookie ANBU member, or making an 'accidental' sound and gaining the attentions of their target and those around him.

The Hokage would definitely hear about this, and his opinion on kicking the rookie out of his ANBU ranks; he would not put any of his other members in danger.

Just as he thought that, there was an explosion from behind them and the cry of his last team member.

A crash then rang out throughout the forest through which they leapt through, as trees crashed to the forest floor behind them.

The mission was over and they needed to get out of there, so Itachi kept on.

"Captain!" the Haruno woman called out from much further behind him than he thought she was.

What the hell was she doing? They needed to get out of there! How could she not understand that?

"Captain! I need your help!"

What the hell was wrong with this woman?

Fucking hell! He couldn't go back to the village without her. The Hokage, as well as her regular team, would all kill him if he didn't come back with her.

With a frustrated sigh escaping his lips, Itachi turned back and made for the rest of his team… the idiots. He swore he would never accept another mission with this idiot woman or another moronic rookie again, Hokage be damned!

When he came upon his team, he found the rookie bleeding out all over a tree trunk, and the medic was defending him against the remainder of the Iwa nuke-nin's useless bodyguards.

"SHANAROOOOOOOO!" the Haruno woman screamed before pounding the ground with her fist.

Even he was surprised when three Iwa ninja flew from the ground and into the trees.

He admitted, only to himself though, that that was an effective way of weeding out your enemy.

He turned on his Sharingan at that point, if only to learn how she performed that technique. It would be quite useful, he admitted.

At least one good thing would come of these idiot's foolishness.

"Captain," she called from beneath her dog mask. "Give me some time. I need to heal Haru so he can get out of here with us."

"No! We need to get out of here! There are too many of them, and there may be more of the way"

"Sir. I cannot leave a man behind!"

"I am ordering you to..."

"No!" she interrupted. "I will never leave a man behind!"

At that, he turned to face her.

"I don't know what your sensei taught you and my otouto while you were both growing up, but I do not operate that way. The mission is a success, so we leave!" he tried rodering the stubborn woman.

"Look here, 'captain'. I don't care how much higher above me you are, but Haru is someone. He is someone's son, someone's brother, someone's husband, and did you know he was even someone's father? If he doesn't get back to his family, that's on you, but I'm doing my best to try and make sure that **doesn't** happen. **That** is what my sensei taught us. **That** is our way as ninja." she yelled right back.

Itachi had to admit, he was taken aback by her sudden insubordination.

"So if you're not going to do anything to help me with this, you could at least get rid of these goddamn nuke nin!" she continued.

She stared him down for several more moments, for which he was honestly impressed by, especially as he had his Sharingan activated and most were terrified, before adding a quick, "Sir."

He hesitated a moment, weighing the pros and cons, before assisting her in her own personal reckless mission which would get them all killed for certain.

Hopefully, if she was as good as they claimed, she would be able to heal anything in near-any situation.

* * *

Thank God the Haruno turned out to actually be as good they claimed, as their rookie was healed rather quickly, even though his injuries had been extremely severe and life-threatening. After he had given them some cover, the Haruno and the rookie were on his tail as he fled the scene, kage bunshins staying behind to distract the remaining nuke nin.

At least the useless rookie was good at running; possibly the only thing he was good at, and they were safe with the village's walls in barely no time.

The other members of his temporary team joined him in his journey to the Hokage to report the success of their mission, even though he insisted he would be able to do it on his own.

What surprised him most was that Haruno beat him to telling the Hokage of the team's rookie's impotence in the field of ANBU. What also surprised him was that she reported him as well on the fact that he had left them behind.

The Hokage did inform her that this was not something that he would actually be punished for, but the Hokage did inform him that he would be punished for leaving her student; at least the threat was there, no matter the fact that it was not actually verbalised.

The rookie team member had resigned himself to the fact that he was being dismissed from ANBU. Thank God he at least could see that he was not suited for his type of shinobi-work, but instead **just** a Jounin, if that.

One thing he had most definitely learnt from this mission; he never wished to be put on a team with Haruno Sakura again. No matter how good his foolish otouto found her to be.


End file.
